A boy with half a face

'On the Face of It' is a play by Susan Hill. It brings together two lonely people. Derry, a boy of about fourteen, climbs over the wall into a garden he thinks is empty. But an old man, Mr Lamb, is sitting there. He has a tin leg: he lost his real leg in the war.

Derry is shy and defensive. One side of his face was burned by acid. He says everyone is afraid of him; people stare, or look away. He is even afraid of himself when he looks in a mirror.

Mr Lamb does not pity him, and does not tease him. He talks to him calmly about his garden: the crab apples, the honey from his bees, and the weeds. Why is one plant called a 'weed' and another a 'flower'? Both are life, growing.

He mentions Derry's face simply, as a fact: Derry has a burned face, and he himself has a tin leg. Children call him 'Lamey-Lamb', but it is not important.

Derry is deeply hurt by people's cruel remarks. He once overheard a woman say that his face was one 'only a mother could love'. Mr Lamb asks him: is that the only thing you have ever heard said about you? Why remember only that?